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Complete noob hoping to plan first project

Started by Tsmall07, July 14, 2017, 08:22:58 PM

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Tsmall07

Hello, 

My name is Tyler and I live in northern Virginia.  I've just joined the site because I've always wanted to start timber framing, but I really have no opportunity to learn from anyone living in the DC metro area.  I've got "A Timber Framer's Workshop" and have begun reading that.  It is a lot of information to take in all at once.  For my first project, I would like to build a front porch for our house.  The house is a single level rambler.  The roof pitch appears to be 4:12.  I haven't measured it yet, but it's pretty shallow.  I think any front porch element will need to match the pitch of the original house.  Most of the timber frame designs I've seen for king-post trusses are 90° at the peak.  Is it possible to have a 4:12 slope with a king post truss?  Second question is what is the best way to learn to design a truss or is there any resources out there where I can pay for a quick truss design to get me started? 

I appreciate any help given.  I'm confident I can complete a project like this, I just need a little push to help get me started. 


Don P

Hey Tyler, welcome to the forum.
One of my old clients is cooking so I'm out the door in a sec  8)
You're stepping right into the deep end of the pool, a feeling I'm quite familiar with  :D There are some good truss articles over on the TFG site, I'll try to find if no one else chimes in.
This is a fun little program that lets you draw some trusses quickly to get a sense of the forces involved. Notice what happens especially to the heeljoint node as you lower the pitch
https://engineering.jhu.edu/ei/bridge-designer/

Tsmall07

The site doesn't seem to be working right now.  I'll check back later.

Tsmall07

BTW, I have a degree in building construction and I took statics.  I understand (I think) what happens to a truss as the pitch is lowered, I just don't know if that can be dealt with using timber framing. 

And yes, I tend to jump right into the deep end in order to learn how to swim.  All or nothing! 

Don P

Ah, so you are not a noob at this. It looks like the JHU truss program doesn't run in chrome, that may be the issue. It is simple but a fast way to do some what ifs. There is a tutorial here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh6yjUrvq5o

Google "the method of joints" for the statics behind truss analysis. There were several tutorials on you tube covering that as well when I looked for the tutorial on the bridge designer.

I did a quick google looking for the TFG/ National Parks series on historic trusses and hit this link;
https://www.ncptt.nps.gov/blog/timber-framing-no-73-september-2004-2004-13/

Keep us in the loop, I'm just a carpenter and learn as I dogpaddle myself  :)

Don P

I remembered I had written this a few years ago and stored it. It might help while playing around with this.
http://timbertoolbox.com/Calcs/trusswbending.htm

Off to road test the new lifter and pushrod in the Ranger... hopefully knock on wood and not a knock in da head  :D

classicadirondack

you might want to contact jim rogers on this site about a design

Tsmall07

Quote from: Don P on July 16, 2017, 09:05:57 AM
Ah, so you are not a noob at this. 

Not a noob at the theory or construction in general, but a noob to timber framing, for sure. :)

QuoteIt looks like the JHU truss program doesn't run in chrome, that may be the issue. It is simple but a fast way to do some what ifs. There is a tutorial here.

I tried it in IE as well.  It keeps saying the java script is blocked because I have an old version.  I tried updating but still no workie... Shame because it seems like a neat tool. 

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